February 03, 2008

NY Times makes us look bad

Many of you who read other beauty blogs besides mine probably have heard of this whole New York Times thing. Basically, there was a story about beauty bloggers, and how although the idea of beauty blogging sounds honest, we are actually biased towards companies that send free swag. Although there may be the odd few out there that are so, that is not the intention of beauty bloggers. As mentioned on Beauty Addict (one of my favourite blogs), there were outright lies in that article. Please look outside the article on this one. Blue Eyeshadow was not mentioned in the article, but I have been in an article for another paper (not about my blog, so don't bother looking) which basically tailored the interview with me and my family to their specifications. Some reporters get it into their head to do that...dunno why because they just get flamed afterwards.

To set the record straight as many other bloggers have done: I've never received "blog swag". At all. I probably will in the future, and when I do I will review fairly. If company X sends me lip gloss, and it smells like gasoline mixed with cheap cologne, I will let you know! The general idea of PR reps sending bloggers stuff is to get an honest review and see what works, and what doesn't. As well, in previous posts I have mentioned samples I've received. They weren't even sent specifically for those purposes. Samples I've gotten are either a) mass mailed, b) requested through a web promotion (aka "Try our new shampoo! Fill out the form on our site to get a sample!"), c) given out at a store, or d) bought (trial sizes off the shelf). Okay? ;-)

Don't avoid the NYT because of this. Just don't get prejudiced because of one article!